Israel Pushing Ahead with Next Anti-Missile System

In the wake of the great success of Iron Dome, Israel is now pushing ahead with the development of the Magic Wand system.

By Elad Benari

First Publish: 11/25/2012, 4:59 AM

Iron Dome system

Flash 90

In the wake of the great success of the Iron Dome anti-missile system, which was able to intercept many of the rockets fired from Gaza at populated areas during Operation Pillar of Defense, Israel is now pushing ahead with the development of Magic Wand, which is supposed to be able to intercept short-range and medium-range rockets.

According to a report in the Boston Globe on Saturday, Israel will test the system in the Negev in the coming days.

Magic Wand, the report said, is being developed by the Israeli Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. in cooperation with the American company Raytheon Co.

An official with the American company told the Boston Globe that “the Israelis are working hard to make the system operational. The hope is that the system will be able to intercept a variety of targets.”

According to statistics released by the IDF on Wednesday night, as a ceasefire came into effect and Operation Pillar of Defense ended, a total of 1,506 rockets were fired at Israel during the eight days of the operation.

The Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted 421 of those rockets, with a success rate of 84%. The engineers of the acclaimed system said this week that they believe that with time the system will “be expanded and the percentage of [rocket] interceptions will only go up."